When a state lease nearly sank the Sailfish Club

I recently wrote in Cartoonistry about the importance of boating and fishing to the Palm Beach lifestyle. In that column I mentioned that my grandfather was an avid early sport fisherman. In the early 1930s, he was a member of the Anglers Club, which merged with the Sailfish Club to create the premiere yachting and fishing club that we know today.

My grandmother maintained that membership at the Sailfish Club for the rest of her life. As a result, my siblings and I were frequently invited to Christmas and Easter parties, and spent many afternoons and evenings as guests.

Whenever possible, I explored the many mounts, trophies and photographs of historic regattas, tournaments and fishing catches displayed around the clubhouse. While the Sailfish Club has its social side, its real DNA is in yachting and fishing. That’s why, in the early ’90s, I was shocked to learn that club directors were risking the loss of their docks in a fight with the state attorney general over membership policies.

Several high-profile Palm Beachers had complained about denial of Jewish applicants, which ran afoul of Florida non-discrimination policies pertaining to the state-leased land on which the club’s docks were built. The club denied that it discriminated ethnically, but the attorney general insisted on proof and the addition of a non-discrimination clause to the club’s bylaws.

After the club postured and stalled for two years, a frustrated Gov. Lawton Chiles and his Cabinet canceled the club’s lease on Aug. 24, 1993. No trespassing signs were put up on the docks and the state threatened to demolish them if matters weren’t resolved within the year.

The following weekend, my Palm Beach Daily News cartoon not only gave my opinion on the situation, but also how I believed my grandfather and other founding members of the club would have felt about it. The club’s handling of the affair had been nothing short of childish.

At the time, most Palm Beach clubs maintained secretive and unwritten membership application procedures. Some had blatantly anti-Semitic policies regarding members and guests, and maintain them to this day. The irony was that the Sailfish Club was historically one of the least offensive clubs in this regard. But apparently, a group of individuals was indeed blocking applicants for ethnic reasons, and the directors felt they should have the same rights to unspecified membership practices as other private clubs that didn’t lease state land.

The loss of the dock lease was a wake-up call. The club worked with the attorney general and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith to resolve issues. It added the state’s non-discrimination clause to its membership policy and reached out to potential Jewish and black members. In April 1994, the state renewed the club’s dock lease for a trial year.

Seventeen years later, the Sailfish Club’s docks are busy, and it doesn’t seem to be any worse off after having been dragged, kicking and screaming, to a more inclusive membership policy.